The mutiny broke out on 3 November 1918 when some of the ships' crews refused to sail out from Wilhelmshaven for the final battle against the British Grand Fleet that the Admiralty had ordered without the knowledge or approval of the German government.

The mutineers, who saw the planned battle as a futile "death voyage", took over Kiel with workers' and soldiers' councils and then helped spread them across Germany.

Following the Battle of Jutland in mid-1916, the leadership of the German Empire did not want to risk losing additional ships that it would be unable to replace.

[3] During the following months, a number of sailors expressed dissatisfaction with their poor rations and treatment to representatives of the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD).

On 1 August, 49 men from the dreadnought SMS Prinzregent Luitpold disembarked without permission at Wilhelmshaven after a free watch and a movie showing were cancelled.

[6] On 29 September 1918, the Supreme Army Command informed Emperor Wilhelm II that the military situation was hopeless in the face of the enemy's overwhelming advantage in manpower and equipment.

In hopes of more favorable peace terms, he also recommended accepting American president Woodrow Wilson's demand that the imperial government be democratized.

His aim was to protect the reputation of the Imperial Army by placing the responsibility for the capitulation and its consequences at the feet of the democratic parties and the Reichstag.

The following day, the new government offered the Allies the truce on which Ludendorff had insisted, and, on the fifth, the German public was informed of the dismal situation that its military was facing.

[11] Following the Allied successes during the Hundred Days Offensive, the new German government under Prince Max of Baden, at the insistence of the Supreme Army Command, asked President Woodrow Wilson on 5 October 1918 to mediate an armistice.

[16] The Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet Command, Rear Admiral Adolf von Trotha, wrote to the Chief of Staff of the Naval War Command, Captain Magnus von Levetzow: "We are seized with horror and shame at the thought that the fleet could be consigned to internal ruin without having come to blows."

"[17] When word of the planned battle reached the sailors, some of the men on the ships at anchor in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven refused to put their lives at risk for a "death voyage" that they saw as militarily pointless.

[18] During the night of 30 to 31 October 1918, sailors on board a number of ships from III Battle Squadron declined to weigh anchor.

The naval command nevertheless had to drop its plans to attack the British fleet, since they felt that the crews' loyalty could no longer be relied upon.

The slogan Frieden und Brot (peace and bread) was raised, showing that the sailors and workers demanded not only the release of the imprisoned seamen but also the end of the war and the improvement of food provisions.

[26] Wilhelm Souchon, the governor of the naval station, initially asked for outside troops to help suppress the uprising but revoked his request when his staff claimed the situation was under control.

After the soldiers sent in to reinforce the local troops sided with the demonstrators, Admiral Souchon freed the imprisoned sailors and asked the insurgents to send a delegation to discuss the situation.

By the evening of 4 November, Kiel was firmly in the hands of approximately 40,000 rebellious sailors, soldiers and workers,[25]: 16  as was Wilhelmshaven two days later.

Wolfram Wette from the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office noted: "... the Kiel signal ... did not point in the direction of a council state according to the Bolshevist example.